Travelog for: Ruby Radish

On my London double decker bus that a relative gave me. I hope to visit London in my journey across the world.

I love playing hide and seek in my house. I'm so tiny, but I still get stuck in places sometimes.

Here I am with the Disney castle behind me in a picture. I wish to visit Disneyland or Disney World too! My mom hasn't been there either.

Here I am with my older siblings. The rabbit is Daisy, the purple bear is Mikey and the pink bear is Pinky. They're too big to travel with me and they want to stay in our home in California, USA. They helped me decide that I should do this and travel the world. They wish me luck.

Borya came to visit us from his home in Russia. I think he is homesick, but I do not wish to see him go home yet. I find him very cute. hehe. He is the first toy voyager my mom has hosted.

I am ready to leave home to chilly Germany. Please wish me luck to my journey to my foster mom! I am a bit worried because this is my first time travelling. I've never been to another country! I hope that there will be other toyvoyagers from all around the world to greet me when I visit them in Germany. I will be homesick, but I want an adventure!

Dear Mum,

I'm sorry, but I was too late for Christmas and everything. I went on a walk through Bruchsal on my first day and already saw some nice places. I hope you enjoy them too.


Best wishes
Ruby Radish

We went on a walk and passed the church St. Peter. It is a beautiful baroque church, which is located next to the graveyard.





On the opposite of the church you can see these statues.

The Saalbach is a river, that flows through Bruchsal. Last year it had really high water, but this year had been too less rain, so it is lower than 30 cm.




This is one of some nice old houses close to the river.




We saw the old slaughterhouse. Right now there're a restaurant and a supermarket.











I had some fun during our walk. I asked my host to take this nice photo of me. You can see the baroque church St. Peter in the far. My hosts live close to this church.




We walked over the Nepumuk bridge.

On 6th January each year my hosts celebrate Epiphany, what the call "Heilige drei Könige" - holy three kings. On two days children walk from house to house dressed as three kings and star carrier. They sing and ask for money for poor children. They don't only receive money, but also a lot of sweets. The sweets are for the children, who walk as star singers, that's what these three kings and star carrier are called. They bring the money and sweets to the parish hall. There they give the money away to the man, who takes care for the donation.
After dinner on the second evening the star singers receive a bag full of sweets. You can see the bags here.

Oh, I forgot: There are also bags for donation to the children's home and market, where poor people can buy things they need.

In the evening we sat next to the small crib under the Christmas tree. It is the crib with which one can play. There is another drib, a wooden crib, but it is forbidden to play with this one. Did our host really think, that we would play with the figures? She didn't let us even close to the other crib.






Usually the Christmas tree is in the living room from23rd or 24th December until 6th January (including) or latest until Maria Lichtmess, which is celebrated on 2nd February. Many people put the tree up sooner now, but that isn't really a German tradition.

It was the second day of star singers and in the evening all three children of our hosts came home with a bag full of sweets. They like to sort them on the floor and exchange those they like and don't like, so that everyone has more things they like. Of course they eat those sweets not in one or two months. They sometimes need nearly a whole year, although they sometimes give away some sweets too.




Today isn't only Epiphany, but also my host's husband birthday. So we had guests in the evening, who enjoyed a tasty potatoe soup.

Today we wanted to take some nice photos, but when we climbed out of the car, we had to realize, that it was a too cold wind. Maybe you can see it in my face.
So we only took this one photo of the church in Stettfeld, Baden-Württemberg.

I don't know, what my hosts did during the last four weeks, but they did nothing together with me. Today they decided to go on a walk and they took me with them.

Today we were invited to go on a trip with our host and her friend. They wanted to walk the way, that they planned to walk together with their teacher colleagues. We needed two hours for the walk along the river Rhine. The Rhine is the twelth longerst river in Europe and the longest river in Germany. The part, where we walked, belongs to the Upper Rhine. The "Upper Rhine" is one of four sections (High Rhine, Upper Rhine, Middle Rhine, Lower Rhine) of the river between Lake Constance and the North Sea. The largest cities along the river are Basel, Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Mainz. The Upper Rhine was straightened between 1817 and 1876, but you still can see the arms of the old river.








We were still on the right side of the river, but you already can see the towers of the Speyer cathedral.